Binh Dinh asks for support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to prevent IUU fishing violation

The delegation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), led by Minister Bui Thanh Son, just had a working session in Binh Dinh. Mr. Ho Quoc Dung, Binh Dinh Party Committee Secretary, along with Mr. Pham Anh Tuan, Chairman of Binh Dinh People's Committee, welcomed the MOFA delegation's arrival.

At the working session, Mr. Pham Anh Tuan, Chairman of the Binh Dinh People's Committee, reported to the delegation on the province’s situation on socio-economic development and foreign activities in 2022 and the first quarter of 2023.Accordingly, over the past time, Binh Dinh province has made many renovation efforts in directing and administering foreign affairs and achieved positive and comprehensive results in all aspects of work, including the management of fishermen exploiting in remote waters.

In the upcoming time, Binh Dinh province will continue to synchronously implement the policies and guidelines of the party and the state in a comprehensive, extensive, flexible, and effective direction to contribute to the succesful implementation of the province's Socio-Economic Development Plan in 2023 and the following years . Binh Dinh particularly continues to monitor and manage fishermen's fishing vessels in the work of preventing illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing as recommended by the European Commission (EC), coordinate with the MOFA’s Consular Department to monitor and promptly handle the cases of local fishermen being arrested by foreign countries and the work of protecting citizens abroad.

In order to effectively prevent fishing vessels from violating foreign waters, Binh Dinh proposed MOFA provide more communication materials at sea, especially legal regulations related to Vietnam's sovereignty over seas and islands; overlapping, sensitive, and undefined areas between Vietnam and contiguous countries in the region; foreign regulations for fishermen’s violated fishing vessels.

"We suggest MOFA direct Vietnamese representative agencies abroad to work or consult with the host country’s authorities to promptly provide evidence of fishing vessels violating IUU fishing for the locality to timely enforce the law according to EC’s recommendations and treat fishermen humanely; promptly notify cases of release at convenient locations so that fishermen can soon repatriate to reunite with their families," said the Chairman of Binh Dinh People's Committee.

Earlier, on April 21, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development coordinated with Binh Dinh People’s Committee to organize a conference to deploy urgent and focused tasks and solutions to prevent IUU fishing before the 4th working session of Vietnam and the EC’s Inspection Delegation. At the conference, Colonel Tran Ngoc Huu, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Border Guard Command, proposed that the National Steering Committee on IUU Fishing Prevention request the MOFA provide documents and evidence that Vietnamese fishermen's fishing vessels violated foreign waters and arrested so that the authorities have enough legal foundation to handle violation cases.

Colonel Tran Ngoc Huu gave an example in Kien Giang province: After the border guards advised the People's Committee of Kien Giang to issue a sanction decision in some cases of fishing vessels violating foreign waters, the ship owner sued against the provincial People's Committee with contents related to legal foundation. According to court regulations, the sanction needs to comply with regulations, specify the time and place the record was made, and whether the foundations were sufficient.

"The violation occurred in foreign waters, so we cannot make a record at the scene. We can only base our record on the notice of the MOFA and authorities and on the violated fishermen’s declaration of encroaching upon foreign waters. The host country’s dossiers processed and sent back are only available to the MOFA, not to the border guards. We propose the National Steering Committee on IUU Fishing Prevention request the MOFA to provide us with relevant documents to facilitate handling violations in order to meet the EC's recommendations," said Deputy Chief of Staff Tran Ngoc Huu.

At the working session with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the representative of the Binh Dinh Fisheries Association expressed the wish that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would have solutions to support the province in strengthening IUU prevention, especially building a negotiation plan with countries with overlapping and undefined sea areas to determine the legal fishing boundaries of Vietnamese fishing vessels.